Paradox:Finding Your Piece of the PuzzleParadox:Finding Your Piece of the Puzzle

Staff Development ConferenceGeorge Fox University

October 23, 2008Dan Brunner

Staff Development ConferenceGeorge Fox University

October 23, 2008Dan Brunner

Paradox Paradox

Paradox Paradox • Being – Doing • Being – Doing

Being – DoingBeing – Doing

Being – DoingBeing – Doing

Being – DoingBeing – DoingThen he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!”

Mark 3:34

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Mark 10:21

Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Mark 10:27

Being – DoingBeing – Doing“The desperate need today is not for a great number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

Richard Foster

Being – DoingBeing – Doing“Until we love, we really do not even know who we are. In fact, we can buy into all the self-discovery the world has to offer and still not know ourselves.”

Richard Rohr

Being – DoingBeing – Doing• Doing…

• God’s Spirit has given every believer a spiritual gift to use in service of others

• Being…• God will do whatever is necessary to make us reliant

on Him alone

• Doing…• God’s Spirit has given every believer a spiritual gift to

use in service of others• Being…

• God will do whatever is necessary to make us reliant on Him alone

For Reflection & DiscussionFor Reflection & Discussion• How much of what you “do” is a genuine

expression of who you “are”?• How much of what you “do” is a genuine

expression of who you “are”?

Paradox Paradox • Being – Doing • Solitude – Community

• Being – Doing • Solitude – Community

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community• Hearing the one Voice• Gaining freedom from the many voices

• Hearing the one Voice• Gaining freedom from the many voices

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community

“Entering a private room and shutting the door…does not mean that we immediately shut out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings, and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when we have removed our outer distractions, we often find that our inner distractions manifest themselves to us in full force. We often use the outer distractions to shield ourselves from interior noises. It is thus not surprising that we have a difficult time being alone.”

Henri Nouwen

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community“We find ourselves not independently of other people and institutions but through them. We never get to the bottom of our selves on our own. We discover who we are face to face and side by side with others in work, love, and learning.”

Robert Bellah et al.

Solitude – CommunitySolitude – Community• Unconditional Love• Unapologetic Accountability

• Unconditional Love• Unapologetic Accountability

For Reflection & DiscussionFor Reflection & Discussion• How do you personally live out the tension

between solitude and community in your life?• How do you personally live out the tension

between solitude and community in your life?

Paradox Paradox • Being – Doing • Solitude – Community• Servanthood – Mission

• Being – Doing • Solitude – Community• Servanthood – Mission

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission

“When our character is defined by integrity, we can be trusted with power. … The condition and depth of your integrity determines how you will use authority when entrusted with it.”

Erwin McManus

“When our character is defined by integrity, we can be trusted with power. … The condition and depth of your integrity determines how you will use authority when entrusted with it.”

Erwin McManus

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission“A non-servant…might become a natural servant through a long arduous discipline of learning to listen. …True listening builds strength in other people.”

Robert Greenleaf

“A non-servant…might become a natural servant through a long arduous discipline of learning to listen. …True listening builds strength in other people.”

Robert Greenleaf

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission“Thus if you want to know how the neighbor is to be loved and want to have an outstanding pattern of this, consider carefully how you love yourself. In need or in danger you would certainly want desperately to be loved and assisted with all the counsels, resources, and powers not only of all people but of all creation.”

Martin Luther

“Thus if you want to know how the neighbor is to be loved and want to have an outstanding pattern of this, consider carefully how you love yourself. In need or in danger you would certainly want desperately to be loved and assisted with all the counsels, resources, and powers not only of all people but of all creation.”

Martin Luther

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – MissionFor this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.

John 10:17-18

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission

Servanthood – MissionServanthood – Mission“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Frederick Buechner

For Reflection & DiscussionFor Reflection & Discussion• Where do you feel the pull towards servanthood

in your life? Is it healthy?• Are you clear enough in your mission that you

are able to say “no” to other good things?

• Where do you feel the pull towards servanthood in your life? Is it healthy?

• Are you clear enough in your mission that you are able to say “no” to other good things?

Paradox Paradox • Being – Doing • Solitude – Community• Servanthood – Mission• Clarity – Fog

• Being – Doing • Solitude – Community• Servanthood – Mission• Clarity – Fog

Clarity – Fog Clarity – Fog

Clarity – Fog Clarity – Fog

“Craving clarity, we attempt to eliminate the risk of trusting God. Fear of the unknown path stretching ahead of us destroys childlike trust in the Father’s active goodness and unrestricted love.”

Brennan Manning

Clarity – Fog Clarity – Fog

“It is the characteristic of human nature that we can face the great crisis moments of life with honour and dignity, but allow the routine demands of everyday life to irritate and annoy us.”

William Barclay

Clarity – Fog Clarity – Fog

“The reality of our faith is demonstrated more in the way we walk with Jesus in the mundane than in the number of religious meetings we attend.”

Kenneth Boa

Clarity – Fog Clarity – Fog

For Reflection & DiscussionFor Reflection & Discussion• Have you had moments of “clarity” in your life?

What were they like? Were you able to trust and obey?

• In what ways do you need to face into the foggy, mundane realities of your journey?

• Have you had moments of “clarity” in your life? What were they like? Were you able to trust and obey?

• In what ways do you need to face into the foggy, mundane realities of your journey?